School Committee approves using free cash to fund three positions in FY27

Superintendent Jennifer Voyik discusses four proposed positions that will be funded for FY27 with the free cash approved at Town Meeting.
Photo credit: SHCTV15

SOUTH HADLEY — The School Committee approved funding three positions with free cash during its June 3 meeting that Superintendent Jennifer Voyik said will maximize the district’s potential in fiscal year 2027.

Several days after Town Meeting decided to use free cash to help save school services, Voyik proposed funding four positions using $300,000 in free cash while at the May 20 School Committee meeting.

Those positions were a vocational director at the high school, a dean of students and family engagement position at the middle school, an adjustment counselor at Mosier Elementary School and a digital literacy teacher at the middle school.

At the end of the May 20 meeting, the School Committee approved the vocational director position but wanted to wait two weeks until its next meeting to hear community feedback on the use of the additional funds for the other three positions.

During the June 3 meeting, School Committee member Tracie Kennedy said the committee did receive some emails from the public that “all of those emails have been in support of either all or some of the positions based on the caregiver or who the community member was and what schools they have interactions with.”

One of the concerns that Kennedy highlighted that the committee continues to hear is that these positions are reoccurring salaries but added, “They are strategic investments. I would say to people who are concerned about that, what happens if we don’t make these investments?

She continued, “I think that’s a really big question that we need to think about because if we don’t do something right now to try to curve the trend of people leaving this district for other districts, then we are going to continue to spiral or the snowball effect. That snowball is going to continue to get bigger every year and we are going to go back to cutting.”

After discussing the positions again at its meeting on June 3, the School Committee approved the remaining three positions.

Voyik’s original proposal came seven days after Town Meeting approved a $61.4 million FY27 budget — including $27.5 million for schools — and approximately $1.2 million in free cash to fund the gap for FY27. According to the town, the FY27 budget, which will take effect on July 1, will represent a 6.71% increase from FY26.

After the proposed positions were approved, the School Committee also approved increasing the total operating budget for FY27 to $27.8 million.

The idea to use free cash was first introduced by Town Administrator Lisa Wong before the Appropriations Committee approved the recommendation on April 28. The Selectboard then approved putting it on the warrant before Town Meeting members made the final approval in the FY27 budget article. Voyik explained that free cash only funds the budget for this upcoming fiscal year and is not guaranteed for future years.
Voyik explained that the conversation in April about what the funds is supposed to be used for is for strategic investments to try and “reverse School Choice.”

“I think that’s a really difficult thing to say or thing to guarantee but I think it’s more about making strategic investments so that families want to stay in district, so we don’t continue to see families that are looking for other places to go,” Voyik stated.

Voyik also said that the money was supposed to be used for ways to build revenue.

“I think the four positions that are presented before you is a combination of both those things and is not the only things that we are strategically investing in or thinking about in the district,” Voyik stated.

The $1.2 million in free cash will save approximately 14 positions and several programs in FY27 such as high school sports, extracurriculars at all schools, electives, middle school and high school music and honors/AP classes are also saved in FY27 following Town Meeting’s vote.

Aside from that $1.2 million, Town Meeting also approved an additional $300,000 in free cash for strategic investments in schools to try and create positions that would accrue revenue or reverse School Choice.

Voyik explained that the vocational director can expand Chapter 74 programming for South Hadley students and established a tuition process to generate revenue. The position would pay for itself with approximately five tuition-in students.

Voyik also explained that the dean of students and family engagement allows the principal to focus on instructional leadership and classroom visits. She said the latter position would also provide additional support for student behavior, discipline and school climate.

The adjustment counselor at Mosier school would reduce the current counselor caseload, according to Voyik, who said that the current counselor supports 61 students. The digital literacy teacher, meanwhile, would broaden access at the middle school library and create separate dedicated classes for digital literacy, research skills and responsible technology use, Voyik said.

“By providing us with the ability to teach the course that we’re running now from another individual other than the librarian, it opens up our library for all our students to come down to,” said Michael E. Smith Middle School Principal Luis Martinez regarding the digital literacy teacher position.
Martinez explained that the current curriculum only allows its fifth and sixth-grade students access to the librarian. He said the seventh and eighth-grade students do not have that luxury.

The School Committee approved the dean of students and family engagement position at the middle school, an adjustment counselor at Mosier Elementary School and a digital literacy teacher at the middle school with a 4-1 vote.